Ticking time bomb... 1998, 1999, ... , 2002, 2003, BOOM!

I have a '97 4dr 4WD manual trans XLT with over 152K. Nothing out of the ordinary has failed except the infamous heater blend door. Everything else has been routine, like brakes and such. An extremely reliable vehicle.

=Vic= Bear Gap, PA

scurran wrote:

I've had my 1993 Limited this whole time. 325,000km on it (well over 200k miles, I believe) and thus far, the only failures have been the radiator and starter. In both cases, not even those problems left me in trouble...the rad just meant that the heating and A/c didn't work properly, and the starter was "fixed" every time with a well placed whack from a wrench.

I have a 2003 Sport, which has given me no problems at all in its relatively short time in my driveway. I just hope that it proves to be as incredibly reliable as my '93.

Whenever I talk to people who gasp in surprise when I mention that I'm a Ford man for life, I have to laugh...Fixed Or Repaired Daily? No way - I drove nothing but Japanese crap boxes until my dad gave me the '93, and it converted me for life.

About this heater blend door, what kind of problems did you have? How did you fix it? I think I might be having the same problems, and I'm wanting to know what it's going to take. Thanks.

My Wife's '96 has over 168K and it's still going strong.

SMC

I have a '94 limited w/ 200K on it, and other than usual wear items like brakes and tires and the like. the only problems I've had were a leaky A/C condensor and the fuel sending unit/ pump corroded through causing a gas leak. Before the limited I had a '93 sport that i racked up 158,000 before some bimbo made a left turn right into it totalling it. And that one never needed anything other than regular maintainance. I might just get another one in a few years when the limited starts to get tires.

Mike

Ooops...forgot to mention that on my '93. Considering the damn thing was stock when it eventually started leaking this past summer, I'd say it's not too major a deal.

Incidentally, I just thought I'd toss this out for fun. My mom is the owner of a 2003 Honda Civic, and she's been lured back to the Honda dealership three times in the past year for a "free oil change." Two hours later, she discovers that major repairs had been done - the entire front suspension system had been replaced, rear axle, etc. Apparently, Honda doesn't like using the word "recall." We can't even get information on Honda recalls - I though every carmaker was legally obligated to make recall notices public?

Glad I got a Ford, that's for sure.

This is an unfortunately common problem in '95-98 Explorers (heat won't change with the temperature control...always hot or always cold), you can check it by dropping the glove box door and looking at the actuator on the top of the heater plenum. It should rotate when you move the heat control. If it does, and your hoses are hot, then you likely have the problem. Explorers, at least the 95-98 models, had a problem with the shaft on the heater blend door. The actuator, which responds to match the position of the heat knob, operates the blend door via a shaft that protrudes the top of the heater. That shaft was made of ABS plastic, or a similarly poor choice for this application, and would break. The good news is that the replacement (and what is on newer Explorers) is made from nylon or other more suitable material and is not likely to fail again. The bad news is that replacing the heater blend door means replacing the entire heater plenum as it is integral to the unit. The good news is that the entire unit only costs $150, or so. The bad news is that replacing the plenum means removing the entire dashboard, which runs 10-12 hours of shop time. Costs for this have been reported between $450-$1200, so it might pay to shop around. More recently, a new technique has been listed for this repair, although not at Ford service shops. It is described at:

you get the repair, it also might pay to (1) hold on to your receiptand (2) call Ford and ask if they've instituted an extended warranty forthis repair yet. They've indicated that they sometimes issue recalls orextended warranty coverage if enough people report a problem. Theirnumber is 1-800-392-3030 and they say a call is as good as a letter(they'll try to call you if you write, anyway, I found out). Good luck! =Vic= Bear Gap, PA

Nate wrote: